Camera Phones Plaza

We called Sony Ericsson K810 the Cyber-shot's rebirth. Now we look at a new jump forward in the development of camera phones when we see the extraordinary Sony Ericsson K850i. It brings you new design, navigation and functionality. The 5 megapixel quality camera, which also has hardware buttons, along with new Media Center application, makes the Sony Ericsson K850i a top product.

Sony Ericsson Company first used a 5 megapixel camera objective on the K850i model. Now there are successor models - C902 - that has even more to offer in this chapter. One more reason therefore to examine how good the K850i model is, in order to discover if it manages to live up to the new model. K850i is certainly a cheaper phone (compared to C902).

Sony Ericsson K850i has many features: the 5 megapixel Cyber-shot camera with automatic lens (taken from cameras module developed by Sony), D-pad, tri-band 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, a new media center and of course an FM radio, search function, 2.2 inch screen, dual-card support, Bluetooth with A2DP, multi-tasking.

K850i is equipped with additional hardware. A good example is the motion sensor, used by Apple in their iPhone or the Nokia N series models. When viewing photos, the sensor automatically changes the display into the landscape mode when the phone is rotated. Much more interesting is the slot for memory cards. It accepts not only Memory Stick Micro, but microSD cards too. This is great, knowing that the memory is almost never enough, if you always want to have a rich collection of music and photos.

Even if it is very simple to work with the camera, the handling of Sony Ericsson K850i model is only average. The idea behind the operation principles is not bad, and its realization is courageous: to get more space for the keyboard and for the display, the four-way navigation key has been integrated into the numbers keyboard and the software keys have been moved to the lower edge of the display, making them sensor keys. This is not good for everyone. Some users believe that the keys to answer / end phone calls are too small, and if you press the key you may accidentally push the soft key in the center. In addition, the digit keys and the navigation key are too sharp.

The display is a TFT type, that has 256,000 colors, a QVGA resolution and a 2.2 inch diagonal. As in previous generations it presents a mirror effect for easier viewing in strong light conditions. The dark shades, the contrast and the brightness are stronger than ever.

K850i receives a 930 mAh battery, which according to the producer, should withstand up to 900 hours on standby or 9 hours of talk time. If the phone is used intensively: Bluetooth opened non-stop, browsing, 3G talk time on one day, one hour of music, pictures, etc., the battery will hardly last one day and a half. If, however, it is only used in GSM, and not abuse of its functions, the phone will last up to 3 or 4 days.

Major changes were made in the Media Player, which is based on Sony Walkman 3.0. In addition, the K850 supports flash themes. Because the phone supports multitasking, there is an Activity button that provides information about the programs that work in parallel at that time.

In the address book, besides introducing the new keyboard that adds functionality, we have, now, the SmartSearch function, usually present in phones equipped with Windows Mobile operating system. Another useful function is the Send All function that enables transmission of all contacts from the address book to another phone. This can be done using Bluetooth, email or a text message.

The color of the walkman resembles with the theme of Sony PSP. Here you can choose to display multiple formats: portrait, landscape, or auto-rotate (thanks to the motion sensor that K850i is equipped). The player supports the following formats: MP3, AAC and AAC +, E-AAC +, WAV, WMA, M4A. For bass lovers we have the mega-bass function (missing from K800). The equalizer is the same as in all K series phones.

The Net Front HTML browser allows you to see pages in full-screen mode. You can watch HTML 4.01, xHTML 1.0, CSS, Java, WAP 2.0 content. Security Protocols: SSL / TLS. Net Front also offers an RSS-feed reader. SmartFit function fits the content of the websites perfectly on the screen of the phone.

The Bluetooth protocol is 2.0, with the human interface (HID) which allows control of Bluetooth devices (as a PC equipped with Bluetooth adapter). Moreover, through Bluetooth, the phone can be used as an Internet modem for your PC or Notebook. It also includes Bluetooth protocol A2DP profile, which allows listening to music on your Bluetooth headset.

When you say Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot, you think about the camera. So, we will now review the 5 megapixel camera. The performance of the camera is not directly related to the large number of pixels, but rather its handling and of its practical usefulness. With the help of a slider it goes easy and fast from the photo mode into the video mode. The trigger key, which activates autofocus, is simple and safe to handle. Sony Ericsson has integrated the Best-Pic mode, which is why K850i makes in rapid succession nine photos and you can chose the best one. Sony Ericsson K850i is ready for low light conditions, thus a small diode helps autofocus to establish the accurate clarity even in the dark. The Xenon flash is more appropriate than the typical mobile phone LED and in addition it can also function in the role of pre-flash to avoid red colored pupils when taking photo portraits. Some users believe that this model offers the same photo quality as Nokia N82, others believe that this comparison is unacceptable, because N82 is much better.

Sony Ericsson thought at the processing of the photos. Thus, these can be processed directly on the phone, it can be added tags or it can be uploaded directly to a photo blog. Setting up a blog like this can be done directly from the phone. You can send photos by e-mail directly to a specific address.

Sony Ericsson K850i is not an extraordinary phone, but most users are satisfied with this model. K850i is a compact phone, very well equipped, which has a camera that rises easily to the quality of the latest models. The keyboard handling claims a period of accommodation and in terms of software bugs, it will almost certainly be removed by the firmware update.

It is distinguished by:

-5 megapixel camera, autofocus and three dedicated keys
-Tri-band HSDPA (3.6 Mbps), EDGE
-new Media Center, Smart Search
-three new software key
-dedicated call and end call keys
-memory card slot for two types of cards, hotswap
-wide 2.2-inch display
-FM Radio with RDS
-Bluetooth with A2DP
-multitasking

Disappoints us by:

-strange D-pad
-dust accumulates rapidly under the protecting cover of the camera
-no Wi-Fi
-lack of infrared
-attracts fingerprints on the shell